Haven't watched it yet but the signs got to me. How do they figure a college education is a right? And even if it is stuck in the Bill of Rights between the Right Not To Be Offended and the Right to Chicken Done Right, how does being a right mean it should be free. The second amendment guarantees me the right to bear arms but it doesn't say they have to be provided to me for free.

Education is neither a right nor a priviledge. Education is a tool. You can be provided this tool at taxpayer expense until the 12th grade, and you get the "government issue" version of the tool. You can get the upgraded tool by either paying twice in K-12 (through taxes and again through tuition), and have a better working product. You can buy the "advanced user" tool accessories, and go to college for an extra price.

The problem is this tool known as Education still has to be used correctly for an individual to have success using it. Some individuals have better success with the "government issue" tool, while the upgraded expensive model tool does help others get an edge in life.

The difference is that Rights are something inherent in the human condition, and the government has to be restricted from limiting it as a means of control. You don't have an inherent Right to make someone teach you something, or an inhereht Right to "credentials" without effort or expense. You can still learn quite ably without the presence of a state provided education in the right environment with the right motivation.

At it's heart the Second Amendment is not about the right to have the tool known as a firearm, but the right to defend yourself and your property against harm. This includes harm directed at you by a tyrannical government. You have a right to learn, and very little can be done to stop people from learning if they want to do so. An education is not something you have a right to have. That is just a tool which gets applied to assist in learning, but it is not required to learn.

It could be argued that some education is a right, but not all. Certainly a college education is not a right, and the idea that it is is so moronic that the people who espouse it have no business going to college (especially if they aren't there as a student).

Education through high school level is more or less a right, in that our laws provide for schooling through this level; yet that basic right hasn't been met at all and throwing money at it hasn't made the problem better. If college education becomes defined as a right, expect it to become as useful as high school education is now. In fact it's already getting there, thanks to cheap government loans--which also led to tuition inflation. Gee, thanks Washington!

I have NO OBJECTION to the government providing free primary and secondary education to all children.But I do object to a government monopoly on education, to government rules that force children to attend failing schools.BAMN wants to use the power of government to stop parents from fleeing failing school systems and violence-racked schools--because nothing says "racism" like running away from criminality and a culture of failure.BAMN wants everyone to be forced to stay in a school system run by government and government unions, both because this benefits union parasites and because this makes it easier for political extremists like BAMN to inject political indoctrination into the curriculum.

You mentioned having a friend in CA who is an IEEE chair. The immediate past IEEE-USA VP of govt. relations gave multiple interviews on Immigration Reform to press outlets like the NYT, and he would routinely hammer on the fact that the proposed law would increase H-1B visas, which in the high tech industry often go to people with advanced degrees, but would essentially give amnesty to people often lacking elementary school educations. Best and the brightest are not offered a road to citizenship, but those with little, if any, formal education are. Because, of course, H-1B visas keep their recipients as not much more than indentured servants while they are in the U.S., and giving them the flexibility that we would give our current illegal aliens would result in driving up costs in the high tech industry.

(BTW - I was the chair of the IEEE-USA Intellectual Property committee recently for several years).

BAMN has a long history of ugly politics: BAMN stands for "by any means necessary", which conveys their long history of advocating violence against any who oppose their far-left, black racist goals. Or against anyone who just happens to be a convenient target with the wrong skin color.

If education is a right, not a privilege, then it is an entitlement. The responsibility is on the government to educate, not on the students to learn and the parents to make sure they learn.

In such a system there is no education and children suffer - see the inner cities. Where nothing is expected, nothing is attained.

That's OK, we'll just redefine education to be baby sitting through 12th grade, with its primary purpose being to get them off the street. But even there we only succeed in bringing the street to the school.

I checked the BAMN website briefly, which looked like all I needed. The header proclaims that the organization defends affirmative action and immigration rights.Affirmative action, as these people see it, is inherently indefensible. Immigration rights, as these people see them, mean open borders and that, too, is inherently indefensible.As for education being a right -- through high school, each state has established public education paid for by taxes. I agree that every college applicant has the right to be considered regardless of race or background. I'll even accept the idea of considering the applicant's history growing up in a low-income ZIP code or attending a school with a high drop-out rate. But no further.The people with the signs seem to believe that college education is a right for them and that it's okay to exclude anyone not them if that's what it takes to get them into college.They are not "other" to me because they're black or Hispanic. They're "other" to me because they hate me.Addendum: took a slightly longer look at BAMN website but I don't have Dramamine at the office and had to leave before I sprayed much more than coffee on my keyboard.

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